With the news that Andretti Cadillac has taken a step closer to achieving its goal of reaching Formula 1, what does it mean for other teams on the grid, and why it may not happen?
There were 4 applications to become that illustrious 11th team on the grid with Andretti Cadillac, Rodin Carlin, Hitech, and Asian effort LKYSUNZ, all vying to get into phase 2 of the application process. Coming into the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix, that process went from 4 teams down to 1 team, which was Andretti Cadillac.
The Andretti family have been openly honest about their intentions of trying to get into Formula 1 and have things in place should their application be approved by both the FIA and Formula One Management. When quizzed about their application back in May by Sky Sports F1 commentator Martin Brundle, Andretti responded by saying?
“We have that process that we’re in the middle of with the FIA. We’re submitting our paperwork this week, and hopefully getting an answer middle of July. So, we’re making good progress.
“We’re already doing [a lot of work]. It’s already happening. We’re building a team as we speak”.
It is still waiting to be decided what that team would look like in all aspects, the driver line-up, team principal, race engineers, pit crew, and strategists. That would then bring new questions on how they go about filling those positions, would they recruit from their state-side operations in IndyCar and Indy NXT? Would they move people over from their Formula E program? Would they try to recruit people from other teams? It will be interesting to see how they go about doing that.
The one area that would be fascinating to see is the driver line-up, we know from 2022 that Colton Herta was deemed good enough to be a contender for the Alpha Tauri seat, so could he take one of the two seats (should Andretti get on the grid) while the other seat is surely wide open if Andretti were to get the best sort of line-up then they need some experience in the 2nd seat and there are a couple of names that spring to mind and both have or are about to race for Andretti. Depending on when they would get into F1 Herta partnered with an experienced teammate, they have Marcus Ericsson in their ranks (if it is 2025, they get on the grid) otherwise they could give Romain Grosjean a seat (even though the Frenchman and Andretti are locked in a legal battle and maybe as an agreement, Andretti gives him the other seat).
The biggest area though that Andretti needs to sell to the other teams, which I disagree with them having a say, is what they can bring to the grid that none of the other 10 teams have. So, let’s look at what they can bring.
Family Name
The Andretti name has been associated with motorsport for decades thanks to Mario, Michael, and Marco Andretti. It’s a name that also brings success with Michael being competitive in all the series he had raced in, he even gave F1 a crack with McLaren in 1993 but his results were filled with DNFs, he did achieve a podium finish at round 13 Italian Grand Prix when he finished 3rd place. Mario Andretti is nothing short of a motorsport icon. In all the series that he has raced in which include Formula 1, IndyCar, Sportscars, and NASCAR, he has achieved 111 wins claiming 109 pole positions in 879 races. He has won an Indy 500, Daytona 500, 24 Hours of Le Mans, and an F1 world championship. It would be interesting to see if that legacy would put more pressure on the team to deliver results. Marco Andretti has a wealth of experience in different categories of racing in Formula E, American Le Mans Series, IndyCar, and NASCAR.
Sponsorship
When F1 went to Miami in 2022 there were sponsorship organisations that no one would have heard of in AutoNation and Gainbridge who are sponsors in their IndyCar team. Now that they have Ericsson, there may be a chance that Huski may pump some money into helping sponsor the team. I wouldn’t be surprised to see about 75% of the IndyCar sponsors being part of the F1 team.
New Drivers
With an 11th team on the grid, it allows for the potential of seeing 2 new drivers from a series that people may not have watched before. As mentioned before Colton Herta would be a very exciting addition to the F1 grid but it could potentially unearth future F1 gems and maybe a future F1 champion. Andretti has teams in IndyCar (as mentioned several times), Formula E, and Indy NXT, so they won’t be short of potential options for drivers.
Competition
There has been a desperate outcry for more competition within the sport and having another team adds more competition, ok granted it might be for the lower end of the points or even for P11-P15. It also adds competition off-track with sponsors but will push other drivers in the series to improve themselves whether it be with training during the off-season as well as on track which leads to better racing for the viewer.
The problem is that the decision is down to as much as we fans want to see an 11th team in F1, as seen in poles that have been put out by media outlets. I’d personally love to see another team on the grid but unlike previous teams, I don’t want to see a new team in F1 for 3-5 years which was the case for Hispania Racing Team (HRT), Caterham-Lotus and Virgin Racing and that is one area that Andretti could struggle to convince the other 10 teams in getting them to accept their application.
Personally, the other teams should have no say in whether a new team comes to the sport or not and it should be down to the FIA and to FOM (Formula One Management). The FIA and FOM are the ones that are trying to sell the sport to organisers and the addition of another team makes for more marketability for the sport. Even though there is already an American team on the grid in Haas, having Andretti Cadillac is more appealing as it would all be based in America and would have that American influence that the Haas team doesn’t have.
Now let us look at some of the reasons that have been mentioned as to why Andretti Cadillac shouldn’t be in F1. When asked in the team principals' briefing, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner had the following to say.
“Obviously money makes the world go round. That’s what every team will be acutely sensitive of and the franchise value being diluted. Suddenly you go from 10 to 11. So of course, the stakeholders, the shareholders of each individual team will have a concern about that.”
To some degree, I agree with what Horner has to say about the dilution of income that comes with a new team coming into the sport especially if in year 3 of the project the team hits financial difficulties and has to pull out then it will leave teams essentially losing money from the years that the team has been in. For example, if Andretti get accepted onto the grid and in year 4 of the project they had to withdraw from the grid, then the remaining teams would have lost the money that they would have gotten if Andretti got on the grid.
I honestly think that Andretti will struggle to get on the grid especially if it is put to a vote from the other teams. In the week that Horner said that Andretti should build their own engine just like what Audi would be doing if they decide to commit to F1 is bang out of order from him due to the already spilling costs just to enter and build a car under the current budget cap. If we look at the costs that are already known then the entry fee is already $200 million, you will have to build 2 cars (with potential upgrades) which would be around $150 million, and then however much for the infrastructure could cost anything. So, if we were to have a guess at the overall cost, you’re looking at around $500 million.
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